<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">At least some Sanskrit proverbs have the "metaphorical subjects" preceding the "metaphorical objects". The example that comes to mind is the following:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">varam eko guṇī putro na ca mūrkhaśatair api</div><div class="">ekaścandrastamo hanti na ca tārāgaṇair api</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">“A single intelligent son is preferable to a hundred fools;</div><div class="">[just as] the sun is not blotted out by the multitude of stars.”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Also the following:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">na daivam iti saṃcintya tyajed udyogam ātmanaḥ</div><div class="">anudyogena kas tailaṃ tilebhyaḥ prāptum arhati?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">“Do not abandon your work, thinking it is foreordained by fate;</div><div class="">[for] who is capable of obtaining oil from sesame plants without effort?”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">(Both of these examples are from the 12th-century text <i class="">Hitopadeśa</i><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">.)</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">In addition, all the examples of metaphorical proverbs in Tamil that I can think of also have the subject-before-object order. (I don’t remember the original, but one of them goes along the lines of, “Don’t think that only your relatives can help you; the poison that you are born with may threaten your life, but the herb that saves you may come from a distant mountain”.)</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">At the very least, there are probably strong areal tendencies here. I wouldn't be surprised if Sinospheric languages pattern one way, and Indospheric languages pattern the other way.</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">By the way, I wouldn’t recommend using “subject” and “object” to talk about metaphor, given how overloaded these terms are already. I think the standard way of talking about metaphors is in terms of “source domain” (= your “object”) and “target domain” (= your “subject”).</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Siva</span></div><div class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 18 Jun 2021, at 2:08 pm, JOO, Ian [Student] <<a href="mailto:ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk" class="">ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div name="messageBodySection" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">Dear all,</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">in Korean proverbs consisting of two parallel sentences, the metaphorical object precedes the metaphorical subject:</span></div><ul class=""><li class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">호랑이는 죽어서 가죽을 남기고, 사람은 죽어서 이름을 남긴다. A tiger leaves its hide when it dies, and a person leaves their name when they die.</span></li><li class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">열 길 물 속은 알아도 한 길 사람 속은 모른다. You can see through ten feet deep water, but you cannot see through a one foot deep heart.</span></li></ul><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">In these proverbs, the metaphorical objects (tiger, water) precede the metaphorical subjects (person, heart).</span><br class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">I have been assuming that this is the “natural” way of making a parallel comparison, until I came across Mongolian proverbs today that have the opposite structure: </span></div><ul class=""><li class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">Хүн ёс дагана, нохой яс дагана. A person follows traditions, and a dog follows bones.</span></li><li class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">Уур биеийг зовоодог, уул морийг зовоодог. The anger torments the body, and the mountain torments the horse.</span></li></ul><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">I assume here that the person and the body are being compared to the dog and the horse (and not the other way around).</span><br class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">Is this metaphorical subject - metaphorical object order common in proverbs of other languages as well?</span><br class=""></div></div><div name="messageSignatureSection" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">From Hong Kong,<div dir="auto" class="">Ian</div></div><img alt="" src="https://www.polyu.edu.hk/emaildisclaimer/PolyU_Email_Signature.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class=""></span><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""><em class=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" class="">Disclaimer:</font></em></p><div style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 12px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin-left: 0.5in;" class=""><i class=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" class=""><span class="">This message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose. 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